The integration of identified employability skills into the Namibian vocational education and training curriculum

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Since the advent of the 21st century the world has been experiencing rapid changes inknowledge, technology and information. These changes pose challenges to theproviders of education and training in general and vocational education and training inparticular. The impact of technological advancement and the nature of organisationalchanges in the workplace demand skills of an increasingly higher level – particularlyskills in the areas of information technology, problem solving and communication. Theproblem identified in this study was that graduates from vocational training centres(VTCs) in Namibia did not have appropriate employability skills needed at theworkplace, as indicated by Namibian employers.The aim of this study was to identify the types of employability skills consideredimportant by employers at the workplace and to determine how such skills could beintegrated into the vocational education and training curriculum in Namibia. A literaturereview conducted revealed that employers require workers with the following key, coreor employability skills: communication, information technology, working with numbers,working with others, problem solving and improving one's own learning andperformance.The population for this study was 493 employers providing on-the-job training oremploying vocational training centre graduates. A total of 244 out of the 493employers responded. The population of the study represented the followingoccupational sectors: auto trades, building construction trades, metalwork trades andelectrical engineering trades.Data for the study were collected through reviewing the literature on employabilityskills, a survey questionnaire to employers and face-to-face interviews conducted withselected employers during the research. The following questions were explored in thequestionnaire and structured interviews: i) Which employability skills are important atthe workplace? ii) Who is responsible for developing employability skills? iii) If it is theresponsibility of vocational training centres to foster employability skills, at whicheducational level should employability skills education be introduced? iv) How shouldthe acquisition of employability skills be promoted? v) How should employability skillsbe assessed?The study found that employers in Namibia considered employability skills such asteamwork, time management, a positive attitude, problem solving, planning, andcoping with multiple tasks as the most important skills they required from vocationaltraining centre graduates. Employers further indicated that employability skills couldbe developed at family/home settings as well as at school and vocational trainingcentres and suggested that employability skills education be introduced from level 1during the first year of training. It was also found that portfolios, observation andpractical assessment were credible approaches for assessing employability skills andthat this should be done in real-life contexts.Based on the conclusions arrived at in the study, it is recommended that a policyframework for employability skills be developed and implemented in the Namibianvocational education and training system. Specific recommendations are maderegarding the following aspects: the type of employability skills; whose responsibility itis to develop these skills; at which level of training the development of employabilityskills should be implemented; how they could best be learned and how the learning ofemployability skills could be assessed.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University